Hoisting apparatus



G. F. DODGE HOISTING APPARATUS Dec. 23, 1924. rx 1,520,538

Dec. 23, 1924. 1,520,538

' G. F. DODGE HOSTING APPARATUS Filed Sept- 30, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 fin-Ue 7112071' Dec. 23, 1924. Y 1,520,538

G. F. DODGE HO-ISTING APPARATUS Patented Dec. 23, 1924.

PATENT OFFICE.

GORDON F. DODGE, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.

HOISTING APPARATUS.

Application filed September 30, 1921. Serial No. 504,356.

To @ZZ whomz'z may concern: l

Be. it known that I, GORDON F. DODGE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Hoisting Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The obj ect of this invention is to provide a cheaper and improved means of handling and hoisting materials and dumping the same into a hopper or onto a ground sto-rage pile.

This invention has particular application to the disposal of ashes from boiler plants,

. which is one of the most unsatisfactory problems with which the engineer has to contend. Present methods of handling such materials are by means of bucket elevators, conveyors, skip hoists, steam ejectors, etc.

" s Of these, the skip hoist receiving materials from a dump car and hoisting them into an overhead bunker has, up to the present time, proven the most satisfactory With the skip hoist construction, howover, a deep and expensive pit is needed in order that the materials may be dumped from the small industrial cars into the skip bucket for hoisting. In addition to being of expensive construction, such pits i are also bothersome in maintenance due to the fac-t that there is always more or less vspillage of ashes in the operation of filling the buckets, and also because of the fact that such pits are necessarily almost always open to the weather and become filled with rain or snow which necessitatesy labor in keeping the pits clean for operation and often necessitating provision both for pumping out the water and keeping them Bucket elevators for handling ashes and other abrasive source of trouble due to the wearing of the parts and necessity for continuous in-l spection and maintenance.

Belt conveyors while being a good construction for handling many materials are not well adapted to the handling of ashes,`

as these are often either very hot or very wet, either of which conditions tend to unsatisfactory operation vand often to rapid destruction of the belts which a-ie an eX- pensive part of the installation.

Steam ejectors are often used for small installations, but are generally high in materials are a ,constantl maintenance, cost and power due to the large demand for steam necessary to 1produce the vacuum required in the ejector pipe. In practice they have been found to be unsuitable for anything but the Smaller installations, and `particularly unsatisfactory in connection with stoker iire boilers where large cilinkers are formed vas it is necessary to break up theseclinkers before they can be fed to the ejector pipe.

My invention consists primarily of a hoisting apparatus designed to lift a selfdumping industrial car or car body and to lift it to a position -above a hopper or pile preparatory todumping the contents thereof. It is proposed to use a standard type of industrial car which will run either in front of the boilers where the ashes can be shovelled into it, or underneath the boilers for receiving ashes direct from the ash hopper. This car is then propelled to the hoist by suitable means where it is engaged by the hoisting apparatus and lifted up and carried over the bunker or pile to the dumping position where it is then automatically dumped by engagement of one of the dumping levers with a suitable stop. The cycle of operations is automatically controlled after the car is brought into position underneath the hoist in a manner similarto that of a standard skip hoist, in that it is necessary that the operator do nothing but ypush a button which starts the electric hoist. The hoist is equipped with automatic electric control such as is well known to those versed in the art, so that with. a single hoist the car will be raised and carried to the dumping position where it comes to rest and remains for a predetermined period of a few seconds after which the electric` current is automatically reversed-allowing the car to be returned by gravityto its starting position upon the` track below. vVheii built with two hoists,r

The' advantages secured by the apparatusy of this invention as compared with the skip hoist are that no pit whatever is required,v

thus eliminating not only the expense of constructing such pits, but also the expense of keeping them in operating condition. A further advantage -is that with ,the device of this invention-the car is brought into a central position over the hopper, thereby giving greater capacity in a given sized hopper, or enab'linga reduction in height of the sides of the hopper for a given capacity as compared with the skip hoist which dumps at one side. It also permits of a considerable reduction in the superstructure over the hopper, all of the above advantages ytendingl to lower the. initial cost for. an installation of a given capacity and materially improving the operating conditions which, in turn, will give a reduced operating Cost.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter set fort-h and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings: l

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my improved hoisting apparatus showing the same `broken away to save space in the drawings. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, the roof structure being omitted in both Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation on a larger scale of a self-dumping industrial car and a carrier frame for hoisting the same, together with a portion of the tracks by which the carrier frame and the car supported thereon are guided `when being hoisted.

Fig. 4; is a side elevation of the dumping car and the carrier frame.

' out the severalviews of the drawings.

In the dra-wings, 1 0 is the frame of the hoisting apparatus in which is embodieda hopper 11 adapted to receive the ashes or othermaterial 12 when 'the same are dumped from the car.r The outlet 13 of said hopper is opened and closed by a pair ofr gat-es 14 rotatably mounted at 15 upon the frame.

When the gates are opened the ashes ,fall

into a car' 16 located beneath theopening 13 and movable on tracks 17 provided therefor.

' The apparatusillustrated in the drawings 1s `constrncted to operate to hoist the cars substantially in a vertical direction then lconifey tliem'in al substantially horizontal v direction to a predetermined position where the contents of the cars are automatically dumped. One of the cars is shown positioned to dump the ashes into the hopper "while the other is in position to be hoisted illustrated in Fig. 1.

The'dumping cars 1S and 19 are alikey and are, in general construction, well known to those skilled in this art, consisting of a body 20, wheels 21, dumping gates 22 open atedby links 23 connected at their inner ends to a rocker arm :241 which is fast to a vrock shaft and has a tripper arm 26 extending upwardly therefrom at one end of the car and a tripper arm 27 extending (Fig. 3) at the opposite end of the car. Then the car is moved in the direction of the arrow a, Fig. 3, the tripper arm 26 engages a stop 26,"rocking the rocker'arm 2Liand opening the gates 22 to allow the contents of the car to be dumped into the hopper 11. lf the car is reversed in its position on the carrying track a stop 27 will 'engage the tripper arm 27 and unlock the gates 22.

The body of the car 18 is provided with oppositely disposed longitudinally lentending flanges 28 which are engaged upon their under faces by angle irons Q9 forming a por tion of a carrier frame 30. The carrier frame 30 is provided with a framework 31 including a pair of oppositely disposed channel beams 32 in which is positioned shaft 33. Said shaft has rotatably mounted thereon at its opposite ends, carrier rolls 34. The carrier frame 80 is provided with a pair of inclined braces at opposite ends thereof respectively, the upper ends of which are joined together by plates 36 which form bearings for a shaft 37 on the opposite'ends of which are mounted guide rolls 38.

The dumping car after being filled with ashes is pushed along the tracks 39 to the position illustrated in Fig. 3, wherein Vthe Hanges 28 are shown above and in Contact with theangle irons 29 on the carrier frame 30 and locked in position by pawls ,74' and 75, Fig. 4. 'lhe'carrier frame, together with the car 18, is iii-st hoisted in a substantially vertical directionby means o-f hoisting ropes l() and 41 which are connected at their lower ends to double shackles@ which are mounted upon the shaft 33 and said car and carrier frame are then conveyed in a substantially horizontal direction to a predetermined location where the content-s of the cars are dumped as hereinafter described. The ropes 40 and 111 extend upwardly-and are guided by guid-e'sheaves 43, 114 and 45. Said hoisting ropes l extend downwardly from the guide sheaves 45 and engage a pair, of drums 4G and a7' which are fast to shafts +18 and 49.l The dumping car 19 is hoisted by means of hoisting ropesO and 51 which are fast to drums 52 and 53 respectively, the drums 52 and being fastened to shafts 5l and L19 so that the shafts L18. Li9 vand 54 forni a three-part' shaft mounted in bearings supported upon a base. The shaft`7i9 is rotated by a worin gear 5T keyed thereto and meshing into a worin 438i fast'to a shaft which is driven by a motor 60, see 7. To eachend yof the shaft 4.9 isfastened a worm gear 61 each of whichmeshes. into a,

,m1111192 rotatably mounted upon a bifur- Yitedarin 163 which arms are tast to the shafts 48 and 51h` lEhe object ot' this construction lis toadjust the ropes 50 and 51, or 40 and 41, so that they will have `an equal tension, and this is accomplished by rotating the worms ($2 by mea-ns of their shafts 64 which are squared oli' at 65 to enable them to be manually rotated by means of a wrench. The ropes 59 and 51 are coiled upon their respective drums 52 and 53 in the opposite direction from that in which the ropes 40 and 41 are coiled upon their drums 46 and 47, so that when the shafts 48, 49 and 54 are rotated in one direction, the ropes 50 and 51 will be coiled up while the ropes 40 and 41 will be uncoiled, thus raising one ot the dumping cars while lowering the other, and when the direction of rotation ot' said shafts is reversed, the ropes 50 and 51 will be uncoiled and the ropes 40 and 41 will be coiled up.

The cars are guided, when moved vertically, by the carrier rolls 84 which engage a pair ot oppositely disposed vertical tracks (S6 and 6T and they are further guided to prevent swinging by the guide rolls 38 which engage vert-ical tracks 68, see Figs. 3 and The track 6G is curved at its upper end at 69 and extends thence transversely of the frame 10 as illustrated in Fig. 1, one of these tracks being provided for each side ot' the car. The tracks 67 and 68 are discontinued at their upper ends, as the guide rolls 38 become unnecessary after the car arrives upon the horizontal portion 70 of the track. This horizontal portion may be made, if so desired, slightly inclined upwardly so that the car 18 or 19 can return by gravity without the use of counterweights, but in the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings, the car is returned along the horizontal tracks to the vertical tracks by counterweights 71 which are fastened to ropes 72, one end of each ot which is tastened at 7B, Fig. 1, to the irame 10, the opposite end being fastened to the portion 74 of the shackle 42. rI`wo of these ropes 72 with counterweights 71 are supplied for each oil the cars 18 and 19.

The general operation of the apparatus hereinbetore specifically and to some extent in general described is as follows:-Assum ing the parts to be in the respective positions illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the car 18 being positioned in readiness to be hoisted and the car 19 being raised and shown as having been dumped, the operator pushes button which starts the electric hoist, the hoist being equipped with automatic electric control and the shaft 59 is then rotated in the proper direction to rotate the shafts 481 49 and 54 to rotate the drums 46, 47, 52 and 58 in the proper direction to raise the carrier frame 30 and its car 18 and move said car along its horizontal tracks to a position over the hopper where its contents are dumped as hereinbefore described. At the same time the car 19 is moved in a direction opposite thatoi' the arrow (a along the horizontal track 17 and lowered to the same relative position as that formerly occupied by the car 18. lVhen the car 18 arrives at the dumping position and the car 19 arrives at the lowered position, then the automatic electric control will operate so that each of the cars will come to rest and will remain at rest until the lowered empty car has been manually disengaged from its carrier :trame and a full car manually positioned in engagement with said carrier fra-me whereupon the operator pushes the electric button and the operation of hoist ing and conveying hereinbefore set forth is repeated. rlhe above describes one 'form ot my invention wherein two cars are operated in balance. Another form consists of a single hoisting frame and a single set of guides for hoisting one car only at a time. lVith this latter form the electric control will automatically raise the car to the dumping position, hold it there for a predetermined dumping period oit a few seconds and then return it to the lower position ready for disengagement from the hoisting mechamsm.

In the latter construction it will be, of course, understood that only the drums 46 and 47 would be employed and the drums 52 and 53 would be omitted.

In the foregoing specication I have illustrated as the preferred embodiment of my invention a hoisting mechanism a carrier frame and a dumping car, the dumping car being adapted to be manually positioned to be engaged by and manually disengaged from the hoisting mechanism of which the carrier frame forms a part, but I wish it to be distinctly understood that l do not limit my invention to any particular form of receptacle for material, such as, a dumping car, but that said receptacle for material may be of any desired shape or construction so long as means tor moving such a receptacle into and out of engagement with the hoisting mechanism is embodied therein and said hoisting mechanism is adapted to hoist the receptacle in a substantially vertical direction and then convey it in a substantially horizontal direction to a predetermined location. For example, a car body, such as the body ot the dumping car shown in the drawing' and described in the foregoing speciiication, might be utilized and transferred upon a separate truck from the point where it is loaded to the point where it is engaged by the carrier trame 80, and in such a case the apparatus for hoisting would operate as hereinbetore described, except that the car body would be hoisted by the carrier frame ot' the hoisting apparatus and the truck which was utilized to transfer the car body from its point of loading to a position to be engaged by the carrier frame, would be left .upon the tracks ready to receive the car body after it had been dumped and lowered into position thereon.

I claim:

1. A hoisting apparatus having, in combination, a dumping car adapted to` contain material, laterally projectingflanges on opposite sides of said car, a carrier frame With laterally projecting flanges rigidly positioned relatively to eachother' adapted to engage the underside of the -langes on said car and support the same, and mechanism adapted to move said carrier frame upwardly with said car supported thereon and to a predetermined location.

Q. A hoisting apparatus having, in combination, a stationary frame, a car adapted to contain material, laterally projecting flanges on opposite sides of sald car, a lcarrier frame with laterally projecting flanges rigidly pov-y sitioned relatively to each other adapted to engage the underside of the flanges on said car and support the same, rollers` on Said carrier frame, tracks on said frame adapted to be engaged by said rollers., and mecha nism adapted to lift said carrier iframe with said car supported thereon and move the same upwardly and then laterally to a predetermined location. y y

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing Witj DGSSGS. 

